Melicoccus bijugatus, commonly called Spanish lime, genip, guinep, genipe, quenepa, mamon or mamoncillo, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalised over a wide area of the tropics including South and Central America, Mexico, Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean, and parts of Africa and the Pacific.
The genus Melicoccus was first described by Patrick Browne, an Irish doctor and botanist, in 1756. This description was based on M. bijugatus trees which were cultivated in Jamaica. In 1760, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin described the first species in Browne's genus, which he named M. bijugatus. In 1762 Linnaeus used a spelling variation of the name Melicocca bijuga. Over the next two centuries, Linnaeus' spelling variation was used in almost all publications. A proposal was made in 1994 to conserve Melicocca over Melicoccus, but the proposal was rejected, leading to a restoration of the original version of the name.
In 1888 German taxonomist Ludwig Radlkofer placed Melicoccus in the tribe Melicocceae together with eight other genera. In his monograph on the Neotropical members of the tribe (Talisia and Melicoccus) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez suggested that although Talisia and Melicoccus appeared to form a monophyletic group, the other (Old World) genera probably did not belong to the same lineage.
The specific epithet bijugatus refers to the bijugate leaves, leaves which consist of two pairs of leaflets.
It is known by many names around the region: as mamoncillo or mamón (in Cuba, Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Venezuela). The fruit is called chenette (in Trinidad and Tobago), gnep, guinep (in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Antigua and Barbuda), guaya, quenepa (in México), skinnip (in St. Kitts,"skinup" in (Grenada), canepa, genip, guinep, ginnip, kenèp,limoncillo (in Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Belize, Bahamas, Anguilla) and in some parts of Central America talpa jocote (in some parts of Guatemala), canepa, quenepa (in Puerto Rico), genepa, xenepa, kenepa (in Curaçao and Aruba), knippa (in Suriname) and Spanish lime and limoncillo (in the Dominican Republic).[citation needed] Also, it is often referred to as anoncillo in central Cuba and southern Florida. It is called "ackee" in the countries of Barbados, St.Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, however, in the rest of the Caribbean, the latter name is used to refer to the related Blighia sapida.
Melicoccus bijugatus is native to northern South America and naturalised in coastal and dry forest in Central America, the Caribbean and parts of the Old World tropics. It is believed to have been introduced into the Caribbean in pre-Columbian times.
Trees can reach heights of up to 25 m and come with alternate,compound leaves. The leaves have 4 elliptic leaflets which are 5-12.5 cm long and 2.5–5 cm (1-2 in.) wide. They are typically dioecious plants however polygamous trees occur from time to time. Flowers have 4 petals and 8 stamens and produce void, green drupes which are 2.5–4 cm long and 2 cm wide. Their pulp is orange, salmon or yellowish in color with a somewhat juicy and pasty texture.
This fruit can be sweet or sour. In the southern areas of Mexico, it is generally eaten with chili powder, salt, and lime. The sweet varieties are generally eaten without condiments of any kind.
Being tropical, M. bijugatus prefers warmer temperatures. Its leaves can be damaged if the temperature hits the freezing point, with serious damage occurring below -4°C.
It is grown and cultivated for its ovoid, green fruit, which grow in bunches. The fruit, somewhat like a cross between a lychee and a lime, has a tight and thin, but rigid layer of skin, traditionally cracked by the teeth. Inside the skin is the tart, tangy, creamy pulp (technically the seed coat, or aril), which is sucked by putting the whole fruit inside the mouth (hence the name mamoncillo as mamar means "to suck") because the seed takes most of the volume of what is inside the skin. Despite the light color of the fruit's flesh, the juice stains a dark brown color, and was often used by indigenous Arawak natives to dye cloth.
The species is also commonly planted along roadsides as an ornamental tree.
Advantage of Melicoccus Bijugatus
Most natural product research is market-driven and thus many plant species are overlooked for their health value due to lack of financial incentives. This may explain the limited information available about the health effects of the edible fruit species Melicoccus bijugatus, a member of the Sapindaceae family that grows mostly in the Caribbean and in parts of South America. However, recent phytochemical studies of these fruits have shed some light on their biological effects. In this review the health effects of M. bijugatus fruit pulp and seeds are assessed in relation to phytochemical and ethnobotanical studies, as well as chemotaxonomic information and medicinal uses of other Sapindaceae species. The chemistry of M. bijugatus fruits was found to be different than the other Sapindaceae fruits, although some of the medicinal uses were similar. Specific phenolics or sugars in M. bijugatus fruits may contribute to their therapeutic uses, especially for gastrointestinal problems, and to some extent toxicological effects. This review focuses our understanding about the specific biological effects of M. bijugatus fruits, which may be useful for predicting other medicinal uses, potential drug or food interactions and may benefit people where the fruits are prevalent and healthcare resources are scarce.
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